Process of making shoes.



A. H. PRBNZBL PROCESS OF MAKING SHOES. APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 5, 1910.

Patented June 25, 1912.

WITNESSES:

Y Afro/mns coLuMBIA PLANOCIRAPH co..w^sHlNu1'oN, D. c.

truer-Aram* ermee.

ADAM I-I. yPRENZEL, OF HALIFAX, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW -JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OF MAKING SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 25, 1912.

Application filed August 5, 1910. SeriaI No. 575,802.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADAM H. PRENZEL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Halifax, in the county of Dauphin and 6 State of Pennsylvania, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes and particularly to the manufacture of shoes of the smaller sizes, such, for example, as the so-called cack shoes.

As well known, childrens shoes of the smaller sizes are made with substantially no heels, the smallest sizes having usually no heels at all and the sizes next larger having usually either a spring heel made by inserting a wedge under the heel end of the sole or a heel made of a single lift attached to the outside of the heel end of the sole. The last mentioned two types of shoes are sometimes termed under-wedge and top wedge shoes, respectively.

Although for hygienic reasons and also because of the cost of manufacture it is not desirable to put ordinary heels upon the smallest sizes of childrens shoes, or cack shoes, as they are usually termed, there are many disadvantages of the fiat, smooth bottomed sole, such for example as its liability to slip upon smooth surfaces and the diff culty of so shaping it that it will afford a proper support for the heel of the foot at the sides.

An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide upon the sole of a shoe, preferably by embossing, a heel which will interrupt the surface of the sole sufficiently to prevent slipping and which will afford a substantially level floor engaging surface under the heel of the foot.

A particular object of the invention is the method of producing a shoe having a heel of the character described which will permit the formation of this heel after the other operations upon the shoe have been substantially completed. An important feature of the invention is the practice of the method in such manner that during the embossing operation a filling piece or inside lift may be inserted and attached to the sole to fill the depression upon the inside of the shoe sole caused by embossing the heel upon the outside. i

Another important feat-ure of the inven tion is the practice of the method in such manner that during the embossing operation the edge of the heel end of the sole is transversely extended or thickened in order to give to the finished heel the appearance of being thicker than the rest of the sole.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent when the following description and claims are considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,-

Figure 1 is a vertical section lengthwise of a completed shoe made according to the method of this invention; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section lengthwise of said shoe; Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the shoe; Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section through the lower part of the heel end of the shoe;` Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a filling piece or heel seat, and Fig. 6 illustrates a convenient means by which the embossing step'may be performed.

The invention is herein shown as employed in connection with the manufacture of'shoes by the turn process and in certain aspects the invention is particularly useful in producing improved' shoes of this type. It will be observed, however', that the invention is in no way restricted to use in connection with the manufacture of shoes by the turn process, but that it is applicable also to the manufacture of shoes of other types.

A convenient means for practising the invent-ion is shown and fully described in my co-pending application Serial No. 575,801, filed August 5, 1910, and a portion of this means suflicient for the purposes of the present description is illustrated in Fig. 6.

In practising the invention in the preferred manner, and in connection with the manufacture of shoes of the type herein shown, the upper and the sole are united wrong side out by a line of stitching indicated at 4 in Figs. l, 2 and 4, the sole being provided with a channel 2 to receive the stitching. After the upper and sole are united the shoe is turned right side out and is preferably substantially finished before the heel is embossed thereon. When the shoe is ready for the heel embossing operation, a filler or' heel seat 5 is provided, preferably of the form shown in Fig. 5. This filler, which may be of pasteboard or any other suitable material, has in the form shown a semicircular notch 5?* in each edge.

One side of the filler is treated with glue and it is then placed with the glue side up on the lower die A, shown in Fig. 6. This die is provided with a pair of spring controlled pins shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6, these pins being arranged to itinto the notches 5a of the ller or heel seat so as to hold it properly centered upon the die. The shoe is now placed over the die A in such relation to this die and t/he upper ldie B that the heel will be embossed upon the appropriate part of the sole l, the material of the sole being suitably tempered, if necessary, to adapt it for the embossing operation. The upper die B has a heel-shaped recess b, the upper die B and lower die A forming coperating female and male dies respectively. lVhen the. shoe has been properly centered upon the lower die A or in the upper die B, a relative movement of the dies toward each other is eected such that the lower die forms a recess 7 in the inner side of the heel portion of the sole, and, in cooperation with the upper die, an embossed heel 8 on the outer side of the heel portion of the sole.

It will be noted from an inspection of Figs. l and t that the filler or heel seat 5 does not extend over the entire heel and in this respect the invention as herein illustrated is especially applicable to the manufacture of turn shoes, since the ller may thus be located between the inturned edges of the upper and serve not only to ill the recess formed by the embossing operation but also to smooth up the inside of the heel end of the shoe. The pressure of the lower die during` the heel embossing operation forces the iller into close 'contact with the sole 1 upon the inside and the glue causes it to adhere permanently to the sole.

In Fig. t it will be noted that the outer edges 8a of the sole have been so acted upon during the embossing operation as to give them the appearance of being thicker than the remainder of the sole. This result is obtained by the shaping of the female die B so that as the sole is forced up into the recess b by the male die A a lateral pressure will be exerted upon the edges of kthe heel seat end of the sole, thus causig a transverse extension of these edges. This result may be obtained by simply beveling the sides of the recess Z2.

Fig. 3 shows the bottom of the shoe as it appears after the embossing operation, the embossed heel being shown at 8 and being connected with the remainder of the sole by an inclined or beveled portion 9, as shown in Fig. l, The inside of the shoe, as shown in Fig. l, is level, the filler 5 filling the recess 7. A shoe is thus produced having a heel suicient to prevent slipping without the use of a leather lift and without the use of nails or tacks for attaching such a lift. The filler or heel seat 5 being upon the inside of the shoe is subjected to very little wear and may thus be made of very cheap material, such as pasteboard. Not only is the shoe improved by-having the very low heel for preventing slipping, but the addition of this heel to the shoe improves its appearance very much. Moreover, as shown in Fig. 4, the embossing operation serves to provide a level floor engaging surface at the heel end of the shoe, thus tending not only to keep this end of the lshoe substantially level, but

also to maintain the whole sole in a level condition, whereby it will not be so apt to wear oil faster on one side than on the other.

The improved shoe is not claimed herein but is made the subject-matter of a cO-pending application Serial No. 575,803 of even date.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is i l. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consists in uniting the upper and the sole, and then embossing a heel upon the heel end of the sole after the shoe is otherwise substantially completed.

2. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consists in uniting the upper and the sole, embossing a heel upon the heel end of the sole, and inserting a filler to lill the depression upon the inside of the shoe formed by the heel embossing operation after the shoe is otherwise substantially completed. l

3. That improvement in the art of mal;- ing shoes which consists in uniting the upper and the sole, embossing a heel upon the heel end of the sole and thickening the edges ot the heel end of the sole after the shoe is otherwise substantially completed.

4. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consists in uniting the upper and the sole wrong side out, turning the shoe, and embossing a heel upon the heel end of the sole.

5. That improvement in the art of malring shoes which consists in uniting the upper to the sole wrong side out, turning the shoe, embossing a heel upon the heel end of the sole, and locating a filler upon the inside of the shoe between the inturned edges of the upper. s

6. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consists in uniting the upper to the sole, embossing a heel upon the heel end oit the sole after the shoe is otherwise substantially completed in such manner that the breast end of the heel extends across the entire width yof the sole, and inserting a filler upon the inside of the shoe to till the depression formed by the embossing operation and to cover theJ break formed by the breast end of the embossed heel.

7. The herein described process forl manuacturing shoes which consists in channeling a shoe bottom on the upper part thereof around the edge of the sole and heel portions, sewing'an upper to said channeled part inside out, turning the shoe right side out, and embossing a heel on the sole.

8. The herein described process for manufacturing shoes which consists in channeling a shoe bottoni 0n the upper part thereof around the edge of the sole and heel poration, in the recess eected thereby.

ADAM H. PRENZEL.

Witnesses:

G. W. SHUI/rz, L. W. RYAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

' Washington, D. C. 

